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Google CEO Sundar Pichai was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday on Capitol Hill. I am concerned about how little the US representatives knew about what Google does or how it works, and their basic understanding of day-to-day tech like our cellphones for example.
The reps for some odd reason had the impression that Google was anti-conservative and Pichai had to answer some shocking questions as a result. One congresswoman asked the following "is there a man behind the curtain for example when you search for "idiot" and say pictures of Trump pop up".
The issue of project Dragon Fly, Google's efforts to develop a censored search engine in China came up. Pichai said that "Google has no plans to launch in China," but he didn't rule out the project completely.
One of my favourite exchanges was with Iowa Rep Steve King who asked a question about a personal offensive attack ad that his granddaughter saw as she was playing a game on her iPhone. Pichai, reminded the 69 year-old Republican that Google doesn't make iPhones.
The above shows that lawmakers and regulators need to be adapted to the times and to the job. The world can't afford to have lawmakers that do not understand the business models of the companies they're trying to regulate. This is like getting an ex-jeweller to regulate artificial intelligence.
